Tuesday, 21 July 2015

I know I haven't blogged for a long time but I've been so busy having fun that I really haven't had time. However, I have recently been very involved with a project which has caused outrage in Norfolk and that I and many others feel strongly about! Please read on ....

The Norfolk & Suffolk Broads are part of the National Parks family and National Parks are for people.

Nearly £2M has been awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to Natural England, on behalf of the owners of Hoveton Great Broad to pay for restoring the Broad's water quality.

The Broad has been illegally closed for over 100 years and totally neglected, causing it to silt up and it needs the sediment pumping out to restore the water quality. When this work is done, there will still be no full public access although a concession of commercial access by canoe to surrounding marshes is to be allowed, which hardly counts as worthwhile public access given the sums of money involved.

A group of us have got together to set up a petition to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport - the Rt Hon John Wittingdale MP (the government department responsible for the Heritage Lottery Fund - did you know it is a 'quango'?) to insist that full public access is reinstated to this Broad once work has been completed. It's public money, spent on Lottery tickets, and should not be used for private gain.

If you feel able to, please, please sign the petition and pass it on to as many people as you can. Even if you don't know the Broads, it's the principle of giving public money to a project without public access.